On this page we are describing the sales taxes in the State of North Carolina, we aim to educate you on the differences that occur throughout the state so you get a better understanding of it in regards to whether you may have:

  • Have taken a North Carolina job in the are
  • Applied for a North Carolina school
  • Opened a North Carolina bank account in the state of North Carolina
  • People who may be unable to find their Social Security Card or have lost it.

What is the lowest and highest sales tax in North Carolina?

In the map of North Carolina is pictured below there are a total of 100 countries that are within the state. You can go directly to the page and see which area has the highest and lowest sales tax in your county of choice.

Alamance Alexander Alleghany Anson Ashe Avery Beaufort Bertie Bladen Brunswick Buncombe Burke Cabarrus Caldwell Camden Carteret Caswell Catawba Chatham Cherokee Chowan Clay Cleveland Columbus Craven Cumberland Currituck Dare Davidson Davie Duplin Durham Edgecombe Forsyth Franklin Gaston Gates Graham Granville Greene Guilford Halifax Harnett Haywood Henderson Hertford Hoke Hyde Iredell Jackson Johnston Jones Lee Lenoir Lincoln McDowell Macon Madison Martin Mecklenburg Mitchell Montgomery Moore Nash NewHanover Northampton Onslow Orange Pamlico Pasquotank Pender Perquimans Person Pitt Polk Randolph Richmond Robeson Rockingham Rowan Rutherford Sampson Scotland Stanly Stokes Surry Swain Transylvania Tyrrell Union Vance Wake Warren Washington Watauga Wayne Wilkes Wilson Yadkin Yancey
The state sales tax for businesses and so forth is a standard rate of 4.75% which allows the local government to be able to collect up to another 2.75% on top of this:

  • the average sales tax for the entirety of North Carolina is 6.938%,
  • the highest is within the Durham, Orange, Person Counties that consists of Durham, Bahama, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Efland, Cedar Grove, Rougemont and this equates to 7.5% sales tax,
  • the lowest sales tax is in the Alamance, Alleghany, Avery, Beaufort, Bladen, Brunswick, Burke, Caldwell, Camden, Caswell, Chowan, Cleveland, Columbus, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Guilford, Henderson, Hoke, Hyde, Iredell, Johnston which includes cities like Greensboro, High Point, Burlington, Mooresville, Goldsboro, Hendersonville, Wilson, Clayton, Morganton, Waxhaw, Lenoir, New Bern, Henderson, Statesville, Raeford, Statesville and the sales tax in these areas total to 6.75%

This is a brief overview, and we suggest that you go directly to the page if you wish to get a clearer image of the different ranges of sale tax in a particular county. Please note that the ones that have an asterisk means they are below the usual county level of sales tax.

How to calculate your own sales tax in the state of North Carolina.

So, what does this mean for you, if you are looking into how much sales tax you are going to charged dependant on what sort of county you are residing or working out of. You can go ahead and use a sales tax calculator which will give you a section that is exampled below.

 

$
-or- Specify Sales Tax Rate
-or- Specify ZIP Code
%

 

You do need to know the purchase ZIP code and purchase amount in order to get an accurate figure. For an example we will use the amount of $500 and see what the ranges could be from the highest area to the lowest.

In Chapel Hill, NC with the highest sales tax of 7.5% would mean that your $500 purchase would incur a $37.5 sales tax, taking the total amount to $537.5.

Whereas in Mooresville, NC the sales tax is only 6.75% and a $500 purchase would equate to $33.75 tax, taking the total to $533.75.

The sales tax calculator makes it as easy as it can be to find out what sort of sales tax you will be charged by simply adding the amount and the ZIP code. Though there might be some purchases that are exempt from sales taxes or have some special leniency which do need to be taken into consideration.

City Sales Tax Rate Zip-code Population
Charlotte 7.25% 28201, 28202, 28203, 28204, 28205, 28206, 28207, 28208, 28209, 28210, 28211, 28212, 28213, 28214, 28215, 28216, 28217, 28219, 28220, 28221, 28222, 28223, 28224, 28226, 28228, 28229, 28230, 28231, 28232, 28233, 28234, 28235, 28236, 28237, 28241, 28242, 28243, 28244, 28246, 28250, 28253, 28256, 28262, 28266, 28269, 28270, 28271, 28273, 28274, 28277, 28280, 28281, 28282, 28284, 28285, 28287, 28288, 28297, 28299 555123
Raleigh 7.25% 27601, 27602, 27603, 27604, 27605, 27606, 27607, 27608, 27609, 27610, 27611, 27612, 27613, 27614, 27615, 27616, 27617, 27619, 27620, 27621, 27622, 27623, 27624, 27625, 27627, 27628, 27629, 27635, 27636, 27640, 27656, 27658, 27661, 27668, 27675, 27676, 27690, 27695, 27697, 27698, 27699 378403
Greensboro 6.75% 27401, 27402, 27403, 27404, 27405, 27406, 27407, 27408, 27409, 27410, 27411, 27412, 27413, 27415, 27416, 27417, 27419, 27420, 27425, 27429, 27435, 27438, 27455, 27495, 27497, 27498, 27499 228526
Winston Salem 7.00% 27101, 27102, 27103, 27104, 27105, 27106, 27107, 27108, 27109, 27110, 27111, 27113, 27114, 27115, 27116, 27117, 27120, 27127, 27130, 27150, 27152, 27155, 27157, 27198, 27199 188498
Durham 7.50% 27701, 27702, 27703, 27704, 27705, 27706, 27707, 27708, 27710, 27713, 27715, 27717, 27722 177230
Fayetteville 7.00% 28301, 28302, 28303, 28304, 28305, 28309, 28311, 28314 140350
Cary 7.25% 27511, 27512, 27513, 27518, 27519 112185
Wilmington 7.00% 28401, 28403, 28405, 28406, 28409, 28412 112089
Asheville 7.00% 28801, 28802, 28803, 28804, 28805, 28806, 28813, 28814, 28815, 28816 92184
Concord 7.00% 28025, 28026, 28027 83701
High Point 6.75% 27260, 27261, 27262, 27265 73314
Greenville 7.00% 27833, 27834, 27835, 27836, 27858 68583
Hickory 7.00% 28601, 28602, 28603 63976
Monroe 6.75% 28110, 28111, 28112 60200
Burlington 6.75% 27215, 27216, 27217 59229
Mooresville 6.75% 28115, 28117 57152
Rocky Mount 7.00% 27801, 27802, 27803, 27804 55293
Goldsboro 6.75% 27530, 27531, 27532, 27533, 27534 53670
Gastonia 7.00% 28052, 28053, 28054, 28055 51784

Hendersonville

6.75% 28739, 28791, 28792 46176

Wilson

6.75% 27893, 27894, 27895, 27896 45390

Huntersville

7.25% 28070, 28078 43738

Clayton

6.75% 27520, 27527 42897

Kernersville

7.00% 27284, 27285 42828

Wake Forest

7.25% 27588 42111

Kannapolis

7.00% 28081, 28082, 28083 37461

Waxhaw

6.75% 28173 35179

Thomasville

7.00% 27360 34943

Lenoir

6.75% 28633, 28645 34395

Garner

7.25% 27529 34351

Matthews

7.25% 28105, 28106 34004

Jacksonville

7.00% 28541, 28546 33310

Fuquay Varina

7.25% 27526 32081

New Bern

6.75% 28561, 28562, 28563 30721

Elizabeth City

7.00% 27906, 27907, 27909 30458

Henderson

6.75% 27536, 27537 30279

Sanford

7.00% 27330, 27331 30015

Reidsville

7.00% 27320 29499

Mount Airy

7.00% 27030 28946

Lumberton

7.00% 28358, 28359 27702

Raeford

6.75% 28376 27467

Statesville

6.75% 28677, 28687 27018

Hope Mills

7.00% 28348 26469

Indian Trail

6.75% 28079 26134

Asheboro

7.00% 27205 25331

Holly Springs

7.25% 27540 23508

Graham

6.75% 27253 22736

Clemmons

7.00% 27012 22622

Marion

6.75% 28752 22290

Newton

7.00% 28658 21713

Why do I need to collect sales tax in North Carolina?

You will need to collect sales tax if you have any sort of nexus there, and what this means is that if you have assets that are physical or economic then you need to do this.

Physical meaning having a tangible activity or some sort of presence in any of the states of North Carolina, economic nexus is simply passing the states’ economic threshold for total revenue, or the maximum number of transactions that can occur in the period of time within the state.

Two easy ways to see if you have either a physical or economic nexus in any of the counties is the following:
Physical:

  • Tangible personal property
  • Business assets or property
  • Own, renting properties
  • Made more than $500,000 in a service or content delivery in the state

Economic:

  • Made more than $100,000 in sales annually
  • More than 200 transactions in the last calendar year

How do I get a sales tax permit?

The main way to go about this is to register online at the North Carolina Business Gateway. Follow the steps that are presented to you and ensure that you have the following to hand to use as information:

  • Business identification information
  • Business entity
  • Location/s that you will be conducting this from
  • Date you will start collecting North Carolina sales tax from a business/property
  • NAICS Code (North American Industry Classification System.)

What is the best way to file sales taxes?

Before you think of doing anything else there are three things that we recommend that you do in order to make this process as easy and smooth as possible.

First of all, find out how much tax you owe (remember the sales tax calculator we mentioned before) so that you know how much you need to pay the state at the end. Second is get onto the North Carolina Department Of Taxation ready to submit them, and third have the money ready so you can make the payment straight away.

There are two main options as well to filing and paying your North Carolina sales tax, these are:

  • Filing online. This is where merchants are required to file all of their sales taxes through the department of taxation in the state of North Carolina, you can also pay your taxes on this platform, so it is one to keep close to you for future reference.
  • Filing by mail. Simply fill out the form UST-1, but this is not the recommended way of filing your taxes due to the possibilities of them getting lost in the post and then it could mean that you are subject to late fees if they are not filed within the allotted time.

We hope this document was able to allow you to feel more confident when it comes to sales tax in the state of North Carolina depending on where you operate out of.